Many motor vehicles such as, for example, pickup trucks have window assemblies with sliding panes. These sliding panes or “sliders” each move between an open position and a closed position to selectively improve airflow and/or circulation within the motor vehicles. The sliding pane can also provide access to the bed of the pickup truck from the passenger compartment. The sliding panes can be manually operated or operated by an electric motor. Typically, such window assemblies include a supporting structure that supports one or more sliding panes along with one or more fixed panes. The sliding panes can be moved either horizontally or vertically relative to the fixed panes.
Such window assemblies with a “drop-glass” or vertically sliding pane offer advantages over window assemblies with a horizontally sliding pane such as, for example, the ability to provide larger openings. However, it has been difficult to meet performance requirements with regard to water/moisture intrusion with these vertical sliding panes. Most notably, seals of the sliding panes may loose effectiveness over time.
Many motor vehicle manufacturers have also expressed interest the window assemblies having a flush appearance between the stationary panes and the moving panes, that is, where the outer surfaces of the stationary panes and the moving panes are substantially in the same plane when the movable panes are in their closed positions. This flush appearance has been accomplished with many complicated means for moving the moving pane in two different directions (both side-to-side and in-and-out). It is noted that it is a never ending desire in the motor vehicle industry to reduce cost and/or weight. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved window assembly for a motor vehicle.